Bearing



June2o,1939. 9 R R SEARLES 2,162,977

BEARNG l Filed Mal-dh 31, 1957 ATTORNEY;

means; I Y t Fig. 5 lis a sectional view through an inher ring Patented. .lune 2.0, -1939 UNITED s'lli'rllii'l PATENT oFFicE A BEARING Raymond B; Searles, New Britain, Conn., assigner to The Fafnir Bearing Company, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 31, 1937, Serial No. 134,130

renin. (ci. sos-zas) My invention relates to an anti-friction bear; y

ing and more particularly to means for holding l such a bearing on a shaft or the like. Heretoforel inner bearing rings have been held on shafts by 5 various means, including shoulders and nuts, adapter sleeves interposed between the bore o f the ring and the shaft, locking collars engaging the ring, etc. Inner rings havealsofrequently been held on shafts by means ofapress t. The usual l press f'lt is not ordinarily adapted for bearings vwhich are to be slidalong a shaft and locatedt some position thereon, in the field, In other words, press fits are usually employed where 'assemblies may be made on the bench.' All of' the l other methods of holding inner rings mentioned above involve'at least one other part in addition to the'inner ring. y It is an object of my invention Dto provide an improved holding means for an anti-frictionA bearing ring, involving no loose parts and which 'may be applied with equal facility on the bench or in the eld.

It is another object to provide an anti-fric-l tion bearing -ring with means integral therewith annd forming`a part thereof and acting by reason of the inherent resiliency of the'ring for holding the same in placeand yet. which may be very notl under stress -and embodying-my invention; an A Fig. 6 is a sectional viewgthrough the inner Kring shown in Fig. l, that is, illustrating thering of Fig. 5 applied to' a shaft. M In said drawing 5 indicates 'any 'conventionalor desirable type of bearing box or pmow block, illustrated here merely for the purpose of showing 50 a complete bearingapplication. An outer bear- Iingring Gis seatedin the box 5. Along inner ring I is carried by the shaft I and anti-friction bearing members, such as balls I. are interposed between the inner and outer rings and, in the u form shown, -iun'in grooved raoeways in both rings. My invention relates particularly to'means for holding the inner ring 'I on the shaft i.

Briefly stated the invention in a broad sense may be said to consist in providing the ring with means, dependent upon the inherent resiliency of 5 the bearing ring, for frictionally holding the same to a shaft and such means may take the form shown in detail in Fig. 5. As there illustrated the ring 1 is proviided with a bore I0, of a diamter to slide upon but substantially t a shaft). 10 l A part of the ring, for example, one end thereof. is provided with a part extending inwardly of the s' bore I0, so as to securely grip the shaft. As illustrated, the part I l of the bore is tapered or at least of` smaller internal diameter than the boe ll part III: The ring adjacentl the smaller diameter II is expansibleand may be made so by slitting the ring. Asfillustrated in Figs. l and 5, the inner r ring is provided with a pair of diametrically-opposite slots I2-I3, extending inwardly fromthe 20 edge of the ring and terminating in rounded or rllleted ends Il, to avoid cracking. It will be seen that the `right-hand end of the ring 'I isv expansible and by meansof any suitable type of tool or wedge the bore Il maybe expanded and the z5 entire ring slid along on the shaft s to the desired 'position and the expanding tool or wedge then removed, so as to permit the inherent realliencyeof the ring 'I to tightly contract the bore Il onto the shaftA I. The extent of the holding 80 Lfor'ce depends upon several factors, including the thickness and degree of resiliency of the inner ring, the point or area of Vcontact between the bore H and the shaft, and its distance frpm the v nominal fulcrum about Awhich the bore Il expand, as well as the extent of normal contraction of the ring when not under stress. These, however, are all design factors, which will be readily 'understood by those skilled in theV art. Y

While the ring'l may be'formed virr anumber 40 of ways and'substantially the same results ob` tained, in Figs. 2, 3 and .4 I have illustrated a method `of forming the innerA ring which is simple, practical and in conformity with present bear.. ing manufacturing practice. The ring 1, as shown in Fig. 2, is rst formed by usual machining methods, s that the entire bore li is of uniform diameter. and -less than the diameter of the shaft whichitistot. 'I'helfingisslotmasheretO-- fore described. The ring then goes the, usual hardening process and is then ready tobe ground. The raceway groove and the outer diameter may be ground by the usual methods. The eXDaSible end of the ring is expand by any suitable means, such as a wedgeii, forced into if a slot. A wedge in the form of aibali may, in practice, be an effective and readily insertible type of wedge. With the ring expanded, as shown in Fig. 3, the rlngis subjected lto the usual bore grinding process and the bore ground out to the\ desired uniform diameter while the expansible end remains expanded.. The ring, after being bore ground, will appear as in Fig. 4 and the diameter then in` th'e diameter 'I I, as appears in `Il'ig. 5. If the wedge it 'be now removed the inherent resiliency of the ring will contract the rightfhand end, so that the ring will appear substantially as in Fig. 5. Inthat condition the inner ring may be assembled with the outer ring and balls and the bearing is then complete.

When it is desired to apply the bearing to a shaft thecontractedbore is expanded by any suitable tool or wedge, such as the wedge Ii of a screw driver type oi.' wedge, which may be driven m into the slot Il to a sufficient extent to expandthe ring and permit the same to be slid along on the shaft to the desired position. When the expanding tool is removed the expanded end of l the ringwill contract on" the shaft and hold the g5 ring with the desired security, determined by the design of the bearing. as heretofore noted.

' It wm be seen um by my improved means the inner bearingring is securely held on the shaft concentrically. 'Ihe security with which the ring .a0 is held may be made substantially equal to that of a press iit and yet the bearing may be very readily appliedzto or removed from thelshaft4 without the aid of a press, and therefore the bearing isreadilyl applicable to shafts where a -35 press is not available nor its use practicable.

'lhere are no partsto come-lost. While I have illustrated my invention in an' -inner bearing ring in which only one end of the become loosened or to bel ring is expansible, it will be clear that other em' bodiments may be made and other parts of the ring may be .rendered expansible; for example, both ends of the ring may be provided with slots orthe'liketorenderthesameexpansible.

maar? While I prefer to provide a pair of diametrically opposite slots in the ring. since that method provides a proper concentric relationship of the inner ring and the shaft,'it is to be observed that in some cases a single slot will suffice and, furthermore. if a plurality of slots be employed they may be arranged as desired, whether or not diashaft.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and one preferred form illusf trated, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications, some of which have been here-4 in indicated, may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:v Y

An anti-friction bearing including a long inner and an outer bearing ring with interposed antifriction bearing members, said inner ring having a bore therein, said bore at the region of said anti-friction bearing members being smooth and of a size to freely slide-longitudinally on a shaft, said bore between said anti-friction bearing members and oneend being normally of substantiallyv less diameter than the diameter of the shaft, said inner ringbeing split from said one end inwardly through said bore of substantially less diameter than the shaft to render the same radially expansible, whereby said-expansible bore may be XDnded and said inner ring freely slid'along saidshaft and when the-expanding force is relieved the inherent resiliencyof said inner ring will cause that part of said .bore which is normally of less diameter than the shaft to forcibly.

engage the latter and securely rhold said inner ring thereon.

RAYMOND R. 

